The field of the invention is systems and methods for magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”). More particularly, the invention relates to systems and methods for reconstructing images from data acquired with an MRI system.
Many fast imaging MRI techniques rely on efficient traversal of k-space, including spiral imaging, echo-planar imaging (“EPI”), and Wave-CAIPI. However, due to practical limitations in hardware design these trajectories will often deviate from the theoretical paths specified by the pulse sequence design. To account for these trajectory errors, researchers have utilized a wide range of measurements to both characterize and correct for the discrepancies. For example, navigators are can be continually acquired to account for phase errors between alternating lines in EPI scans. For methods such as spiral imaging and Wave-CAIPI, entire pre-scan measurements can be performed to map the k-space trajectory. These techniques can be time inefficient and in many cases will need to be repeated for different protocols, which will require different trajectories to be mapped.
Thus, there remains a need to provide a method for implementing fast imaging techniques for MRI that are not limited by the scan time associated with acquiring navigator data or the limited utility of fixed trajectory maps.